The lawyer of a man brutally beaten by four German policemen after a car crash told RT it was “beyond the normal boundaries,” accusing the police of trying to cover up the case. A video of the incident recently went viral, fueling outrage on social media.

The incident took place on February 19 in the city of Stuttgart, but the video surfaced only days ago on social media. Police said in a statement that a 35-year-old male had a verbal argument with an officer and later tried to assault him.

The footage, released just days ago shows a police officer approaching the 35-year-old and saying “Stop smoking.”

The man is then grabbed by an officer from behind and put in a headlock. The victim was beaten with fists and a baton to his head and legs, while the officers tried to knock him to the ground. Another police officer is seen interviewing another person, while the beating continues right behind her.

The video caused a furious reaction from people on social media, which emerged online several days ago, with some of the comments reading:

“Absolutely disgusting what is going on at the moment. Whether I [reference to the driver] smoke or not … My goodness, this time they [police] have really overreacted,” one person wrote. Another one said that “fortunately this was recorded, I know thousands of examples where this was not the case.”

“It cannot be that all four [policemen] have overreacted… There is a system behind it,” a person wrote on Facebook.

RT spoke to the victim’s lawyer, Gökhan Ayman, who showed the photos of the man’s injuries. He said his client was assaulted and is still recovering from the injuries.

“One police officer had my client in a headlock and constantly struck him on the face. Part of his face swelled up. Another police officer started beating him with a baton on the thighs. My client’s leg is still numb. I believe that there were at least four officers involved, although there should have only been one or two restraining him. It was an assault.”

The authorities tried to cover the incident up and spread misinformation in the media, according the lawyer.

“At first they tried to cover up the incident, I believe this was beyond the normal boundaries of the police procedures. I want to see an open investigation, for the guilty officers to be brought to justice. The police conducted a massive campaign of misinformation in the press. What would have happened if this video had not come out thanks to the third party?”

After the video emerged online, four German police officers have been placed under investigation, with two of them suspended from duty, and two others restricted to administrative roles, according to German media.

The inquiry into the case is currently ongoing. Police are also trying to verify whether the officer who said he was assaulted by the 35-year-old could have misrepresented the facts.

Several other European countries have recently seen police brutality incidents, with some most violent cases in France, Denmark and the UK.

Paris recently saw tens of thousands-strong anti-brutality rallies following an alleged rape of a young black man with a baton back by police in February.

Another series of protests followed the killing of a Chinese man during a police raid in the French capital.